ifilm's exclusive report on Iranian feature ‘The Human Comedy’

Watch ifilm's exclusive report on the Iranian movie ‘The Human Comedy’ directed by Mohammad-Hadi Karimi, starring Farrokh Nemati.

Below are highlights of the report.

ifilm: Most of Mohammad-Hadi Karimi’s movies have a philosophical theme and they have a mixture of literature and they are related to the audience through the language of cinema.

Mohammad-Hadi Karimi: I should say that this process is not done based on a predetermined endeavor. Indeed, I never make a film only to include these factors. The stories I write are not too far from my concerns.

I don’t use my concerns only to give character to my film or to say my film has been based on my concerns and to hide myself behind them and let go of other factors.

They are the concerns that I have to make my movie in order to reach an answer and there are many like me who have the same concerns. When the movie is made, you and many others consider them as movies which are close to literature; philosophical factors can be noticed in them.

They look at life and concepts philosophically; they are after meanings which have examples in life that cover these meanings and lose them. I’ve made the movie based on my own need and it hasn’t been commissioned by an organization, institute or sponsor.

I think I have to work on my concerns in the first place because it’s not something apart from me.

ifilm: Just think about all the movies you’ve seen so far. Do you remember a movie that the characters don’t have any names? Well, this movie, ‘The Human Comedy’, none of the characters have names.

Mohammad-Hadi Karimi: Look, it’s about human beings. I think choosing names for human beings limits them in a special category.

Whatever name I choose for my characters, it brings some kind of history and suppositions with it and everybody thinks that this story is related to people from these walks of life and the people of this or that generation.

ifilm: An outstanding feature about this movie is that it doesn’t have a specific time or location.

Farrokh Nemati: There is no specific time or location in the movie. It symbolizes a powerful and unreasonable person, a dictator or maybe a senior military figure, a bully. Anyhow, he possesses such characteristics.

MG/AI/FM